Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (Japanese: ドラゴンボールZ 神と神 Hepburn: Doragon Bōru Zetto: Kami to Kami, lit. "Dragon Ball Z: God and God") is a 2013 Japanese animated science fantasy martial arts film, the eighteenth feature film based on the Dragon Ball series, and the fourteenth to carry the Dragon Ball Z branding, released in theaters on March 30. It is the first Dragon Ball movie in 17 years to have a theatrical release, the last being the tenth anniversary movie in 1996, which followed the first three Dragon Ball films and the thirteen Dragon Ball Z films. Unlike previous theatrical Dragon Ball releases, this was a full feature-length production with a stand-alone release and not shown as part of the now-discontinued Toei Anime Fair (formerly the Toei Manga Matsuri). It is the first-ever Japanese film to be screened at IMAX Digital Theaters, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 13, 2013. Funimation acquired the North American rights to Battle of Gods and produced an English dub that they co-released with 20th Century Fox in North American cinemas in August 2014. Madman Entertainment acquired the Australasian rights and screened the movie at the 2013 Japanese Film Festival in Australia before screening the English dub to select theaters in August 2014, and Manga Entertainment released the film in the United Kingdom in November 2014. Battle of Gods was the first film considered an official part of the Dragon Ball storyline, being set during the time skip in chapter 517 of the original manga, with original creator Akira Toriyama deeply involved.3 The plot involves Beerus, the God of Destruction, learning of the defeat of the galactic overlord Frieza at the hands of Goku. Seeking an opponent worthy of his power, Beerus, along with his companion Whis, travels to the North Galaxy to challenge Goku to a battle. The first story arc of Dragon Ball Super retells the events of Battle of Gods. Some details have been altered, scenes added, and dialogue expanded to cover the 14-episode arc. Plot Whis wakes Beerus, the God of Destruction, from his long slumber and tells him that Frieza was defeated by a Saiyan. Thirty-nine years earlier, the Oracle Fish (Yogen-gyo (予言魚)) foretold that a mighty opponent would appear before Beerus, the Super Saiyan God. Beerus, with Whis' help, then tracks down the Saiyan warrior Goku, who defeated Freeza. On Kaiō-sama's (aka King Kai) planet, Goku proceeds to challenge Beerus. Despite having powered up to Super Saiyan 3, Goku is ultimately overwhelmed and defeated in two strikes. Disappointed by the subsequent lack of challenge, Beerus departs in order to seek out more powerful adversaries on Earth. Beerus' arrival interrupts Bulma's birthday party. Vegeta, who already knew about Beerus, because of a warning from Kaiō-sama, casts his pride aside in order to keep Beerus in a good mood. Meanwhile, Pilaf, Mai, and Shu sneak into the party in order to steal the Dragon Balls, but are not recognized as they have been turned into children; before the events of the film, they gathered all the Dragon Balls themselves and wished for youth, but Shenlong made them a little too young. Discovering the three of them, Trunks mistakes Pilaf for a monkey and fibs to Goten that Mai is his girlfriend, which leads to the trio being brought in front of the party-goers. When Mai accidentally drops the Dragon Ball she stole, she takes Trunks hostage, but no one seems concerned. A drunk Gohan dares Mai to shoot him; he deflects the bullets with one finger, but one of them hits Videl's leg and another one hits Beerus' forehead. Dende heals Videl and discovers that she is pregnant with Gohan's child. Videl has been hiding the fact to surprise Gohan later and they do not reveal it to the others yet. When Beerus asks Mr. Buu for one or two of the puddings he has, Buu eats all of them, angering the God of Destruction, who decides to destroy the Earth. Buu, Android 18, Tenshinhan, and Piccolo attempt to fight Beerus, but are easily defeated. Gohan powers up and attacks Beerus, only to be taken down by a heavy kick. Vegeta tries his hand at defeating Beerus, but he is also taken down. Goten and Trunks fuse into Gotenks and attempt to fight Beerus but are quickly defeated as well. Bulma becomes annoyed at the fighting ruining her birthday party, and yells at Beerus, before slapping him. When Beerus slaps her back, it sends Vegeta into a fit of rage, becoming even stronger than Goku; however, he is still defeated. Goku appears, having been watching Vegeta's fight and summons Shenlong to ask what a Super Saiyan God is. A Super Saiyan God once appeared on planet Vegeta to stop evil Saiyans, but failed because of the form's time limit. The dragon also reveals that they need the power of six pure-hearted Saiyans for one of them to reach the Super Saiyan God form. Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan God, a form far stronger than even the Super Saiyan 3, thanks to the power of himself, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, Goten, and Pan (from inside her mother Videl), fulfilling the prophecy once stated by the Oracle Fish. Goku confronts Beerus again and they wage an intense battle in space, right above planet Earth. The form gives Goku the power to resist Beerus, but he reverts to his regular Super Saiyan form due to its time limit. However, he learns the form's godlike feeling, which allows him to use some amount of Super Saiyan God power against Beerus. The two seem to be equally strong, but Beerus eventually decides to use his strongest attack. Goku stops the energy sphere, barely holding it back, but after Chi-Chi and Goku's friends appear in Goku's mind, he is able to absorb the energy sphere and briefly transform into a Super Saiyan God once again. However, Goku is overwhelmed with exhaustion, and at Beerus' suggestion, finally admits defeat. Beerus recognizes Goku's effort and reveals that he was the second strongest person he had ever fought, after Whis, who is also his martial arts master and is even stronger than he is. Goku also learns from Beerus and Whis that there are actually other universes with other Gods of Destruction. Back on Earth, Beerus decides to spare the planet and takes his leave with Whis after bidding farewell to Goku and his friends, who return to Bulma's birthday party. It is revealed by Whis that Beerus used 70% of his power while fighting Goku. Development and production Early in July 2012, Weekly Shōnen Jump's official website had already opened a teaser page with a countdown to a "surprise" on Saturday, July 14, the release date of its 33rd issue of the year. On July 14, the magazine and website, now changed to show Shenlong appearing and then disappearing, revealed some minor information of the upcoming film; including the premiere date, staff information, and companies involved in the production (Fox International Productions Japan, Shueisha, Fuji TV, Toei Animation, Bandai, Bandai Namco Games, and Bird Studio). The film's director is Masahiro Hosoda, who directed several Dragon Ball Z episodes back in 1992, the screenplay was written by Yūsuke Watanabe, who has written manga adaptations before (namely the 20th Century Boys and Gantz live-action films), and the lead animation director is Tadayoshi Yamamuro, who has worked on the series since the Dragon Ball anime. The magazine and official website also published a comment by Akira Toriyama about the movie. The Dragon Ball series creator notes that the adaptation will mark the first time he has been so deeply involved in the production of an anime, in this case as early as the screenwriting stages. Toriyama also said that the film will retain the atmosphere of the original while adding small amounts of modern flavor. Toei Animation released a press statement on July 17, 2012, saying it would be set "between the animation series Z'' and ''GT, or in other words from the blank decade between the end of the battle with Majin Boo in chapter 517 of the manga and chapter 518" and calling it part of "the official history of Dragon Ball." In September, it was announced that the film was one of four that year, and the only animated one, to receive money from the Japanese government as part of the non-profit organization UNIJAPAN's "Co-production Certification Program". Toei received 50 million yen (roughly US$636,000) from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, whose aim is to promote Japanese arts and culture, with the United States named as the film's partner country. The December issue of Ultra Jump elaborated on Toriyama's involvement in the movie, stating he came up with the movie's story and character designs. On December 2, the official website was updated with the movies' cast and entire staff. The following day, a brief introduction to the film's story was leaked from accessing an unlinked section of the website. In January 2013, it was announced that Olympic gold medalist in judo Kaori Matsumoto and singer/tarento Shoko Nakagawa will have roles in the film. Nakagawa is a well-known otaku and Matsumoto is a fan of the series as well. Matsumoto voices a policewoman modeled after herself, while Nakagawa plays the Yogen-gyo (予言魚) who first leads Beerus to Goku. The Fuji TV announcer Shin-ichi Karube also has a small part in the movie. The April issue of V Jump teased about a new Super Saiyan transformation being in the film, titled "Super Saiyan God" (超サイヤ人ゴッド Sūpā Saiya-jin Goddo), saying: 39 years ago, the Oracle Fish told Beerus that the Super Saiyan God would appear before him. And that this is the beginning of the movie's story. In Weekly Shōnen Jump issue #14 of 2013, Toriyama said that the plot for Battle of Gods began two years ago with ideas for the God of Destruction and Super Saiyan God, and that he got deeply involved in the story in order to keep it in-line with the series' original tone so kids could enjoy it. In the following week's issue, he revealed that Beerus' design is based on a cat and his clothes based on Egyptian garments. A live greeting by cast members and Toriyama, followed by a preview screening of the film took place across Japan on Tuesday, March 12, 2013, with a limited number of attendees determined from a Jump lottery. The lottery tickets were included in 22 different Shueisha magazines (including Weekly Shōnen Jump, V Jump, Jump SQ, and Ultra Jump) and 884 pairs (1768 people) were invited. There were five screenings, all the same day and at 6:30 p.m: Shinjuku Wald 9 cinema in Tokyo (428 people), Umeda Burg 7 theater in Osaka (440 people), 109 Cinemas in Nagoya (256 people), T-Joy Hakata in Fukuoka (322 people), and Sapporo Cinema Frontier in Sapporo (322 people). The special cast greeting at the Tokyo venue was beamed live to the other locations before the screening. A second preview screening with an on-stage greeting and a special guest took place at Differ Ariake Arena on March 16, 2013, with 250 pairs (500 people) invited (determined with lottery tickets included in V Jump, Weekly Shōnen Jump, and Saikyō Jump). Music The music in Battle of Gods was composed by Norihito Sumitomo. Its theme song is a cover of Hironobu Kageyama's "Cha-La Head-Cha-La", the original opening theme of Dragon Ball Z, by the rock band Flow. The band members commented that they were excited about the opportunity as they have been fans of the series since they were in elementary school. The cover and the film's insert song, "Hero ~Song of Hope~" (HERO~希望の歌~ Hīro ~Kibō no Uta~), were released as a double A-side single on March 20, 2013. It reached number 24 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. The film's original soundtrack, containing 43 tracks, was released on March 27, 2013. Due to licensing agreements, the international editions of the film use English-language versions of Flow's "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" and "Hero ~Song of Hope~". The music to the trailers in Japan was composed by Immediate Music whom specialize in providing trailer music for films, such as Avatar, the Matrix films and the Harry Potter films. The trailers use the pieces "Prologue to Conquest" (Trailerhead: NU EPIQ) and "Emergence of Empires" (Trailerhead: Saga), both composed by Yoav Goren with the latter based on "Conquest of Kingdoms" from Epic Choral Action #1 and "Rising Empires" from Themes for Orchestra & Choir 2: Abbey Road respectively. Pfeifer Broz. Music supplied "Evil Island" for Funimation's promotions and trailers in North America. Dragon Ball Z Battle of Gods, Vol. 1 * Recorded: January-June 2014 Track listing # Rumble - U-God featuring Leatha Face, Inspectah Deck and Method Man # Mortal Kombat (Beerus' Theme) - Afu-Ra featuring Masta Killa # Tha Game - Raekwon featuring Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Ghostface Killah and Pete Rock # God in the Ghetto - Darkim Be Allah featuring V # Deadly Dartz - Tony Tone featuring 7th 7ign of Watchmen and Da Sunofsam of Brooklyn Zu # Ambush - Dainjamental featuring Crunch Lo, Polite, Shyheim, Rubbabandz, Dom Pachino and 9th Prince # Splash - Brooklyn Academy featuring Killah Priest # Shampin (Bulma's Party Anthem) - Ransom featuring Jadakiss and Raekwon # Glorified Excellence - J-Love featuring Ghostface Killah and Cormega # Slang Copulation - Raekwon featuring Nas, Cappadonna and Ghostface Killah